This invention relates generally to apparatus for converting a manually produced code signal to a visual display, and more particularly to electronic apparatus for converting International Morse Code signals to visual displays of corresponding letters, numbers, or symbols.
The use of coded signals for interpersonal communications has been a well known practice for a long time. For example, before the invention of the telephone or radio, the telegraph, which utilizes International Morse Code signal patterns, was the primary way to communicate over long distances. Even today, the use of Morse Code as a vehicle for sending communications remains popular with amateur radio enthusiasts and hobbiests. To become proficient in communicating with Morse Code, an operator must learn the standardized signal patterns and develop the technique of properly initiating those signal patterns. Operator technique was perfected only through hours of practice with a second party who had to decode the initiated signals. In the past, there was no way that an individual could develop his expertise in sending code signals on his own.
Advances in electronics have enabled apparatus, such as the teletypewriter, to convert electrically generated code signals to a visual display of corresponding letters, numbers, or symbols. However, for manually generated code signals, there has heretofore been no way of discriminating between operator levels of proficiency in sending such code signals. That is, signals generated by a novice with a low degree of proficiency could be misinterpreted with relation to the signals generated by an operator with a high degree of proficiency. For example, the time duration of a Morse Code short signal (dot) produced by a novice may be the same as the time duration of a Morse Code long signal (dash) by a skilled operator.